ShredAir’s Journey is now a Trilogy: Part 1 “Northwest to Northwest” of this tri-lingual blog (English, German, Spanish) is about our 2008 drive from the US’ Pacific Northwest to the Northwest of South America. Part 2 “Colombia“ looks at our stay in Colombia, and Part 3 “The Andes” now follows our route south along the Andes, the air trails of the Andean Condor.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

As we continued north, we made a large detour around Santiago, and started to zigzag our way toward Vicuña, where we have good friends, and where we are now.

On the way, we passed through interesting places, some big and most small. The names of the more easily pronounceable ones are, for example, San Nicolas, Los Andes, El Tártaro, Cabildo, Totoralillo, Illapel, Combarbalá, Monte Patria, and Andacollo.

San Nicolas, Chile — Pacific Coast

Our overnight spots varied from big noisy truck stops along the Panamericana (where we washed all our laundry for under a dollar) to the remote and silent Reserva Nacional de las Chinchillas (where we were the only campers and locked in for the night); by the way: who remembers the Chinchilla?

From/von/desde Chillan to the coast/zur Küste/a la costa

Very often, Chile's coast is under a dense marine layer of clouds. This layer may extend inward for 10 miles going upstream along river valleys. There may be light drizzle on the coast, while there is sunshine and blue sky a little ways inland.

Constitución, Chile

South of Santiago, the climate becomes dryer and warmer, and vineyards start to appear. From here north to the southern edge of the Atacama Desert is Chile's famous wine country. Where ever people irrigate, wine grows.
One also encounters the occasional mine. But vast stretches of this increasingly dry and rocky area remain wild and undeveloped. Only important roads are paved, most rural ones are narrow and graveled.

Now, we'll be here in Vicuña for a while, specifically at our friends' Terral Hotel. We had planned to cross over the Andes to Argentina for a bit, but the nearby passes closed prematurely this year due to snow; well, they're almost 16,000 feet high and feature single-lane gravel roads.

The witch and her menu/Hexe und Speisekarte/La bruja y su menú

At Terral Hotel, we again have a "job" in exchange for free parking. We're in charge of improving English proficiency of hotel staff, among a few other things. The hotel owners, Rene and Karen, also are overlanders, and I have been helping them with small details getting their big expedition vehicle ready for their next journey starting right about now.

Germany

About Us

We are Dieter Mahlein from Germany and Marcela Leal from Colombia. Our company ShredAir, Inc. is dedicated to radio-controlled (RC) flight. We started ShredAir in Oregon, USA, importing mostly slope and electric gliders from Europe. ShredAir became an international company, supplying products, service, and support to RC pilots just about anywhere. We have organized and participated in events in the US, Germany, and Colombia.
In 2008, we drove from Oregon to Colombia where we wanted to promote RC flying in the Andes Mountains through fun fly gatherings, slope soaring and electric flying events. This we did, but our idea of offering complete tourism packages for pilots and their families never did work out as we envisioned.
Now, while we’re in South America and because we can, we continue traveling south along the Andes following the air trails of the Andean Condor.